*** Don’t worry about sticking to the order and content of the panels. Put yourself in the narrator’s shoes and think about what might be going on inside her head.

Word count: 150-200 words (but more are fine), not including words that are already on your page.

Pages to choose from:29, 43, 61, 77, 89, 102, 103, 128, 142

Format: Please bring the assignment in on your laptop AND email it to me at julie@college-prep.org

Example from page 26 (this example is much longer than yours needs to be):

1. One day after school... Hi, mom. Hi. Go and look in the guest room. There’s a surprise for you. Grandma! Are you leaving already? No, I’m just changing. Mom told me that grandpa had been in prison. Hmm, how was school... It must have been very hard on you. Oh, my back! Can I help you? No, I’m ok. As you say, it was very hard for me but also for your mother and for your uncles. The Shah’s father took everything we owne. I lived in poverty. Oh, yes. So poor that we had only bread to eat. I was so ashamed that I pretended to cool so that the neighbors wouldn’t notice anything. Mmm! Mom is cooking something good! Come on! She is just boiling water again.

2.One day after school, my mother came up to me as I arrived home.

“Hi, Mom.” I looked up at and something in the way she looked back at me told me that she was hiding something, something nice.

“Hi,” she said. “Go and look in the guest room. There’s a surprise for you.”

I was excited. I didn’t know what the surprise might be, but I rushed toward the guest room, expectant of something wild like a pony or a baby sister. When I threw open the door, I found my grandmother standing there, pulling on a dress.

“Grandma!” I squealed. “Are you leaving already?”

“No, I’m just changing,” she said, smiling her sweet smile through her graying hair.

Relief. I wanted her to tell me as much as she could about my grandfather after finding out he had been a prince and a political prisoner.

“Mom told me that Grandpa had been in prison,” I blurted out almost immediately, but she didn’t seem very responsive. She turned away slightly, hiding a solemn expression.

“How was school?” She tried to change the subject, but I was unrelenting.

“It must have been very hard for you,” I said, ignoring her question.

Finally, she gave in. I sat down on a stool as my grandmother settled into her chair. The rheumatism in her back caused her pain as much as the memories of her husband.

“Can I help you?”

“No, I’m okay,” she said with effort. “As you say, it was very hard for me, but also for your mother and uncles. The Shah’s father took everything we owned. I lived in poverty. We were so poor that we only had bread to eat. I was so ashamed that I pretended to cook so the neighbors wouldn’t notice anything. Your uncles often teased your mother because she was fooled by my play cooking too.”

c. After each page number, write 2-3 sentences explaining what makes that page an
interesting one to you. It could be something about the images or the dialogue
or the juxtaposition of the two. It could be an interesting theme that the page
suggests or a question it raises. Perhaps something the page reveals about the
narrator. Just be able to articulate your reasons for choosing each of your 5 pages.

Fri 9/10: Read and take notes on "Raymond's Run" in blue short story reader.